Another shift like film to digital?

We've seen a progressive shift from film to digital. What do you all think of another shift from DSLR to mirrorless interchangeable lens? Or even more radical, a shift to "frame grabbing" mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras?

Rio Sundoro wrote in post #9085563
We've seen a progressive shift from film to digital. What do you all think of another shift from DSLR to mirrorless interchangeable lens?

I can see this primarily taking over the range currently covered by cameras like the Rebel line and Nikon's D40/D60/D90. These are consumer cameras where people are looking for good IQ. These are the people that are most likely to put up with composition by LCD or EVF in trade for keeping that good IQ and getting a smaller rig.

I have a Panasonic GF-1 (this is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera) which I own for the portability with decent IQ. But LCD composition sucks ass big time, and the optional EVF is scarcely better.

So yes, some part of the market will go this way. But until somebody come out with an EVF that is as good as optical (totally lagless, true color, high resolution) these cameras will have little to no penetration into serious work.

Too much work if you are just grabbing frames from a continuous video loop. I don't want to wade through tons of footage looking for potential stills. Also, I do not shoot video and stills the same way. Any event that I shot with the intention of making stills would make for useless video.

there is work being done right now that could lead to a kind of photon recepter array woven into a fabric. I heard a report on NPR about it, but unfortunately ( fortunately?) I was interrupted in the middle of the segment by a large fish and didn't get enough to really comment on it here. The basic idea is a fabric that looks around and finds the predominent hue and then mimics it. how long before we can capture images with a handkerchief for tenthousand dollars, followed shortly by baseball caps for twenty bucks? The entirety of human experience could end up on a memory chip somewhere, someday.

By a mirrorless, do you mean one where you use the LCD for composing your shots, or like some cameras, where the viewfinder is an LCD? This might work for video, although I am by no means a videographer. However, the stability advantage to holding the camera up to one's eye cannot be ignored. Did you ever try holding at arm's length a camera with an 80-200mm f/2.8 while you composed the shot on the LCD? To be sure, an LCD viewfinder would address this problem. However, the one camera that I tried with this feature was not encouraging. The viewfinder image was jumpy, had insufficient resolution, and did not accurately present tonality of the scene.

Having said that, I do think that Panasonic (?) and others will get a market share among casual-level enthusiasts with the micro 4/3 system.

The Olympus Pen-like digital camera was interesting until I learned it had no viewfinder! I don't want the stability issues that arise then your elbows are not braced against your chest, but held out in the air in front of you. And LCD technology is insuffient for in-viewfinder electronic display rather than ground glass. And the pellicle design pioneered and re-introduced -- over and over and over -- by Canon over the decades loses light to the film/sensor and introduces surfaces to have dust land on in the light path to the sensor. Maybe one day it might be a reality for mirrorless, but right now still too fraught with shortcomings.

I'm simply going to avoid all these technological paradigm shifts by reverting to film...

Rio Sundoro wrote in post #9085563
Or even more radical, a shift to "frame grabbing" mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras?

Have you ever seen stills taken from 5Dmk2 video? they don't look bad at all...

I've just got a Panasonic GF1 and I think that this style of camera will make a big impact over the next few years. Suddenly there are cameras that (just) fit in a jacket pocket that take decent pictures. I'm looking forward to seeing where the technology takes us.

DStanic wrote in post #9087653
Have you ever seen stills taken from 5Dmk2 video? they don't look bad at all...

Isn't it actually the idea behind Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1's stunning claim of 60 frames per second?

I had the opportunity to use Panasonic's FZ 50 last year. It had Electronic View Finder. I think basically it's the smaller sized LCD stuck in place of an optical view finder. I agree that the technology is still far from replacing an optical version. But once it has reached that level, won't the utilization of EVF allow for a comparable (to current penta prism design) mirrorless DSLR?

The good (and at the same time prove to be the achilles heel) of EFV is that it allows me to get actual real time vision of exposure result. Achilles heel because in low light condition, you just can't see a truck in front of you because the VF is too dark.

birdfromboat wrote in post #9085855
... interrupted in the middle of the segment by a large fish ...

I intend to use this as an excuse to escape the next Faculty meeting at work.